COMUNIDAD aims at developing, testing, and implementing a framework that will make use of Copernicus data from agriculture, forestry and rural development in Chile and Colombia. It will develop solutions integrated on the COMUNIDAD platform with different sources of data. The COMUNIDAD Platform will be important base for the use of EGNSS and sharing of expertise with public and private entities from the target countries to introduce EU-space based applications and to use of Copernicus data, to develop jointly algorithms, services and products, which serve local user needs. The interaction with each Pilot Application in Chile and Colombia will feed to long-term policy strategy development, aiming at bringing about the transition into the new paradigm of sustainable agriculture and forestry growth. The combined use of EGNSS and Copernicus to develop innovative downstream applications combining positing navigation and timing with Earth observation services will be an essential part of the COMUNIDAD development through pilot applications in Chile and Colombia with the direct involvement of regional end users, decision makers and support organisations. This approach is not only demonstrating the possibilities of potential transfer of the results and addressing the potential barriers, but as well introducing the added value for developing new markets, information sharing, open access and transparency. The platform is combining existing components and services for new target regions where potential for utilization is expected. The COMUNIDAD will address 4 main Scientific Objectives via 6 WPs. The cooperation of 9 partners is envisaged, from them 5 are from Chile and Colombia and 4 from EU.

The objective of PoliRuralPlus is to foster a sustainable, balanced, equitable, place-based and inclusive development of rural and urban areas through improved connections, governance arrangements, and integrated territorial policies that prioritise experimentation and innovation in domains that favour bi-directional urban-rural synergies and the development of a well-being economy. Key focus will be driven by Foresight, planning and implementation of integrated urban-rural strategies. The PoliRuralPlus project aims to improve the quality of life for people living in urban and rural areas across the EU by promoting coordinated and collaborative development within the regions. The project will support 9 pilot projects (including 8 from the previous PoliRural project and 1 new project) that focus on developing rural-urban partnerships. The aim is to increase the resilience and interconnectedness of urban and rural areas. In terms of financing, the project will demonstrate successful application of funding mechanisms to support these partnerships, including public-private partnerships, crowdfunding, and other innovative financing models. The goal is to find sustainable financing solutions that can support the long-term development of these partnerships. PoliRuralPlus will validate an EU-wide regional-driven integrated territorial planning & implementation Action-Foresight Process & Tool Box, by extending the latter’s Innovation Hub through the European Digital Innovation Hubs using open-source System Dynamic Modelling & a GIS collaborative online service called Map Whiteboard, enhanced by up-to-date Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning (AI/DL) applicable algorithms. The project has an ambition to become an integral part of the New European Bauhaus due to its lighthouse success of gradual buildup of hands-on experience using up-to-date tools supporting decision-making process based on foresight principles.

Changes in rural areas, such as depopulation, land abandonment and the loss of biodiversity, may proceed very slowly yet are often irreversible. Policymakers can steer these developments in order to reduce their negative impacts but this requires knowing whether current policy instruments are effective, who is benefiting from them and in what measure, what driving forces will be most influential and how they will affect people, planet, profits and land-use. To be truly useful, this knowledge must transcend siloed thinking and be the corollary of a joint effort uniting different actors under a common cause. PoliRur will provide this knowledge by combining several key activities needed to design effective place-based, human-centric and forward-looking rural policies. These include actionable research that takes place within an inclusive learning environment where rural populations, researchers and policymakers come together to address common problems; an evaluation exercise that uses text mining to assess the perceived effectiveness of past or planned policy interventions; and a foresight study that tries to glean the development trajectory of agriculture and its allied sectors until 2040 using several scenarios in which the evolution of rural populations occupies a central place. As a result of these activities, PoliRur will leave decision makers at different levels of government better equipped to tackle existing and emerging rural challenges, rural populations more empowered and rural areas more resilient.

Urban food systems and ecosystems (UFSE) demand immediate action. CITIES2030 innovative approach have a great opportunity to attract the best researchers, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, cities and all agents of the UFSE as well. The main goal of CITIES2030 is to create a future proof and effective UFSE via a connected structure centered in the citizen, built on trust, with partners encompassing the entire UFSE. CITIES2030 commit to work towards the transformation and restructuring of the way systems produce, transport and supply, recycle and reuse food in the 21st century. CITIES2030 vision is to connect short food supply chains, gathering cities and regions, consumers, strategic and complement industry partners, the civil society, promising start-ups and enterprises, innovators and visionary thinkers, leading universities and research across the vast diversity of disciplines addressing UFSE, including food science, social science and big data. CITIES2030 actively encourage the participation of citizens by delivering a trusted UFSE, moving consumers from being passive recipients to active engagement and motivated change agents. This objective is achieved via multiple tools delivered by CITIES2030 such as the CRFS Alliance, a community of practice supported by a digital platform, reaching all over Europe and beyond. This approach will enable policy developments, innovation actions within result-driven Labs, and enhancements on a pan-European scope with a global reach. Cities and regions will improve resilience and sustainability, and their leadership will create short food supply chain and ecosystems enabling local investments, trans-borders and transnational deployment. A blockchain-based data-driven UFSE management platform will secure intelligence and coordination actions by delivering an accurate, almost real-time digital twin of the whole supply chain, e.g. from production to waste management, but also on key enablers of resilience and sustainability.